Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

The Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo yacht club was the chosen backdrop for the presentation of the city as the third stopover leg on the first Sailing Tour of Spain raced on IMOCA Open 60 yachts, a regatta organised by the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation (RFEV) and the Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona (FNOB), with the collaboration of, among others, of the Xunta de Galicia, the Sanxenxo Council, Ports of Galicia, the Galician Sailing Federation and the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo yacht club.

The ceremony included, among other important figures; Catalina González, the Mayoress of Sanxenxo; Enrique Sotelo, Sports Councillor for Pontevedra; José Ramón Lete Lasa, Secretary General for Sport of the Xunta de Galicia; Andor Serra, Director of the FNOB; José Ángel Rodríguez Santos, Vice President of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation (RFEV) and President of the Galician Sailing Federation and Pedro Campos, President of the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo yacht club, as well as the skippers on the teams with training bases at Sanxenxo: Iker Martinez and Xabier Fernández and fellow Spaniards Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio.

Sanxenxo, a sailing landmark

Catalina González, Mayoress of Sanxenxo dedicated the opening of her speech at the ceremony to the President of the Yacht Club and his efforts and hard work behind every opportunity that Sanxenxo has to be a landmark on the sailing map: “Sanxenxo is a constant in his life, as is the port here and this club”, added González. “Our gratitude goes to Pedro Campos for always fighting on the front line for Sanxenxo to become an international sailing landmark”.

“Sanxenxo is awaiting the opportunity to step up to this challenge”, continued González. “We'll welcome this leg, which sets off from Gijón, with open arms and we hope to offer the sailors the best conditions with which to face the following long leg with renewed energies from Sanxenxo to Calpe”.

The Councillor for sport for Pontevedra, Enrique Sotelo also took the opportunity to signpost the significance of this event, one of Galicia's key events this summer, which will help the estuary at Pontevedra become one of key locations for diversifying tourism.

José Ramón Lete Lasa, Secretary General for Sport at the Xunta de Galicia also emphasised the fact that the key role Sanxenxo is playing in ocean sailing has everything to do with the work as a whole behind it: “This first edition of the Sailing Tour of Spain sailed with these racing yachts will be an international event that will push us to the level of the Tour de France à la Voile or the Giro d’Italia, which are grand European sailing events”, added Lete.

As Vice President of the Royal Spanish Sailing Federation, and President of the Galician Sailing Federation, José Ángel Rodríguez Santos commented: “I think this Sailing Tour of Spain is going to be excellent, perhaps one of the best in history, precisely because of the professionalism behind the organisation and also because of the superior class of yacht and the crews that will be competing. I'm really happy to welcome back a long distance racing challenge with veritable F1 yachts to Galicia”.

“It wasn't long ago that we unveiled the ocean training base where we are preparing for the Barcelona World Race and the Volvo Ocean Race here at the Real Club Náutico de Sanxenxo”, commented Pedro Campos. “Now I would like to publicly thank Andor Serra for coming here and for choosing Sanxenxo as the second ocean base, along with Barcelona. We are also very pleased to host what might be considered the key leg on the Vuelta: the longest leg starts at Sanxenxo, and it will also be the port of arrival of a very tough leg indeed, which will include a passage along the infamous Costa da Morte (Death Coast)”.

Iker Martínez and Xabier Fernández went through their training regime for the Sailing Tour of Spain and the Barcelona World Race with the audience. “The Sailing Tour of Spain is one of the best opportunities to prepare for the Barcelona World Race. We can test out speeds and sailing techniques alongside some of the new yachts, such as PRB. Also this 'Vuelta' is special for me as it kicks off at Hondarribia, which is where I learned to sail as a child, before going to Sanxenxo, where we now live and train. I know that Sanxenxo is up to the challenge”, finished Martínez.

“For us to go from Gijón to Sanxenxo is a treat. We'll set off from out hometown on course to our new home, providing a display of the sport and of these yachts. It's going to be a fantastic Sailing Tour of Spain, or 'Vuelta'... the best ever. I know it's going to be hard to set off and say goodbye, but we're going to put everything we have into this and although we'll be racing against friends, we'll make it as tough as we can for the competition to catch us”, added Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio.

New format for the Sailing Tour of Spain

With six scored legs, the Sailing Tour of Spain will depart from Hondarribia on 12th June and will stop off at six of the country's ports. Sanxenxo will host the start of the fourth leg on 20th June, the longest in the entire 'Vuelta', some 830 nautical miles to Calpe, in Andalucía. Prior to this, the port will also welcome the finish of the third leg from Gijón, with the yachts due to dock at Sanxenxo on 18th June. Calpe, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona round up the list of stopovers in this competition, with a total course length of some 1,730 nautical miles (3,204 km) around the Iberian peninsula.

This is the first time that a Sailing Tour of Spain will be sailed onboard IMOCA Open 60 yachts. The fleet of this 'Vuelta', as it is known in Spain, brings together some of the best national and international sailors.  As well as two teams with a base in Sanxenxo, with Basque pair Iker Martínez and Xabier Fernández, and Juan Merediz and Fran Palacio from Asturias, the fleet has three other entries from Spaniards: Barcelona's Alex Pella and Alicante's Pepe Ribes, who recently set the first New York-Barcelona Record, and will be sailing Estrella Damm; their rivals in that competition, Pachi Rivero and Antonio Piris from Cantabria, who'll be skippering W Hotels-Nova Bocana and  Britain's Dee Caffari, the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in both directions will be joined by Spaniard Anna Corbella, the first Spanish woman to race solo across the Atlantic. The pair will head up the GAES Solidaria team. Frenchman Vincent Riou, winner of the Vendée Globe 2004 and the Rolex Fastnet Race 2007 is also on the enry list with his brand new PRB, launched just a weeks ago in France. Marc Guillemot, another Frenchman and winner of the Transat Jacques Vabre, with a CV including a third place finish in the Vendée Globe 2009 will be skipper on Safran.

Joining this star-studded list of entrants at various points on the course will be other stars of the sport, such as Michel Desjoyeaux, Pedro Campos, Jaime Arbones, Simon Fisher, Bruno Dubois, Antón Garrote, Jeff Couzon, Jérémie Béyou among others.